Since Obergefell v. Hodges concluded, we’ve seen a rampant uptick of opinions from Christians and those in support of same-sex “marriage.” Just Google “same-sex marriage opinions,” and you can browse through all 18 million hits.
But something has been left out of the equation. Through all the defense and counter articles from each side, I haven’t really seen many Christian resources putting the burden back on the alphabet community. We should provide a strong shield from the Word of God, but there are some questions I’d like to ask the LGBT collection.
First of all, if you truly believe in love, and really feel the decision to force states to license same-sex marriages is justifiable because of how you feel about someone, why can’t Christians follow the teachings by someone we love? Christians love Jesus, yet we are told by you that we can’t exercise that love outside of the church. And if we advocated that your keep your same-sex love in your house, we’d be called intolerant, while getting accused of forcing our morals on you.
Secondly, if it’s only about love to you, then why do you need the government to recognize the relationship? For the tax benefits? Well, then, it’s really not just about love is it? You may think it’s unfair that a married couple receives certain benefits, but if we’re talking equality, then what about the person who remains single? Under your logic, the government shouldn’t deny them the rights married people enjoy.
A couple of weeks ago, Time released an article titled, “This Is the Time to Move Past the God vs. Gays Debate.” The overall premise of the piece is, all of us—right and left, gay and straight, religious and agnostic—need to take a moment to regroup and refocus. From this day on, we need to behave differently toward one another. There is something I will agree with here.
On the Christian side of the fence, we do need to obey the command to hate the sin, not the sinner. We shouldn’t treat a gay person any differently than we treat the members of our church. We should show them compassion. If we just become a circling firing squad, we leave no chance to show Christ.
The Time article goes on state that Christians need to find the humility to re-evaluate their most cherished beliefs about sexuality, and at the very least they should err on the side of charity and quietly resign themselves to the fact that marriage equality is here to stay. Marriage is not just about sexuality, nor is it just about two adults who love each other. It’s also about growing a family naturally, it’s about God’s relationship with his people (which is all of us). Why is that so offensive to you?
Those of us who believe marriage is solely between one man, one woman and of course God, are always accused of fighting back against the gay community with such vitriol. The first objection I have to this is, if we’re going to have a reasonable conversation about the issue, can you show me where, outside of the Westboro Baptist Church a mass number of Christians are conducting a crusade to demonize homosexuals? I would also add, you and I haven’t discussed this, so how about giving me the benefit of the doubt so we can have a conversation?
Exactly what does it mean that Christians are on the wrong side of history? If we’re basing this conversation on the Constitution, which by the way is what the Supreme Court was supposed to do in deciding whether or not the 14th Amendment requires states to license same-sex marriages a couple of weeks ago, then it looks like the advocates for same-sex marriage are on the wrong side of history.
The 14th Amendment had absolutely nothing to do with heterosexual marriage, let alone gay marriage. Which by the way, homosexual behavior was a felony within every state in the union when the 14th Amendment was passed. And as Dr. Frank Turek points out, if the “equal protection” clause of the 14th Amendment didn’t even ensure a woman’s right to vote, it certainly doesn’t ensure a woman’s right to marry another woman!
Christians are called intolerant, yet before the recent Supreme Court ruling, the majority of the states in America recognized same-sex marriage. Certainly that wasn’t due to a Christian movement, but people within the gay community could marry in many states, so why does it matter that we don’t believe in gay marriage? Truly, how does that cause you harm?
Christians are often put on defense, but we need to start engaging conversations with more questions to the other side, and have them defend their position.
